When Universes Collide
by kittykatloren
Summary: It was magical, really, passing between universes. She was nowhere and everywhere all at once, every atom of hers touching every atom of existence, and so some of those were him, she knew it. Rose/Ten oneshot, takes place around Journey's End.


**A/N:** We see the Doctor getting over (or not getting over) Rose's departure; we seem him struggle with the present when he so longs for the past. We see him happy again, we see him smile, we see him reminisce... but we don't get to see Rose go through any of that. We don't get to see her process. I can imagine it would be a difficult one... So this is my attempt to address Rose's life in the parallel world, away from the man she loved.

**Words: **618  
**Characters:** Rose, Ten  
**Time: **Seasons 3 and 4, parallel universe  
**Genre:** Angst

**Disclaimer: **Everything you recognize belongs to whoever owns Doctor Who. Not me.

* * *

It had taken months of work, of tireless nights and red eyes and pangs of hopelessness so fierce that she fell to her knees, shaking and alone, sure her heart would shatter to pieces without him to hold it together. She didn't have a heart to spare like he did. He even had three hearts, maybe. Because hers belonged to him. The TARDIS key she wore around her neck burned cold against her skin, right above her heart. Sometimes, it was all she felt, all that reminded her she was still alive.

She closed her hand around the key through her shirt. And she stood up. With sheer force of will she pulled herself together, blinked away the tears, and worked, through every waking hour until she had reached her goal. She felt the energy of the world, the universe, tickling through her skin down to her very soul. Deep breaths, tensed muscles, and she leapt, from everything she had come to know to everything she had ever dreamed.

It was magical, really, passing between universes. She was nowhere and everywhere all at once, every atom of hers touching every atom of existence, and so some of those were _him_, she knew it. She was frozen and she was burning; she was still and she was flying. And in the eternity of a single moment in time, it was over, and she was stumbling to her very solid feet in a very solid world.

Perhaps this one was his. Would she feel it, would she know, when she landed in the right place?

She couldn't. She couldn't just _know_, just stay and wait. So she jumped again, and again, and every time she felt him, so she followed that feeling. Followed that tiny molecule she breathed in that was his smile, his laugh, his hand warm around hers.

It was like a drug, an addiction. The times she returned "home," her family and coworkers at Torchwood worried. _You should stop, Rose. That feeling you get, that's not… that's not _real_._ _You're never gonna find him. _

But she couldn't stop, couldn't give up that taste of him. Even if it was all she was ever going to have again, it was irreplaceable, all that gave her hope, kept her heart beating. It was him.

And then she felt it. She met Donna Noble, and she knew, _this is it. He'll be here. He'll find me here. _

Her skin felt bare without the universe surrounding it. But she stayed. Because he would come for her. He had never failed her, and she knew that he wasn't about to start.

Finally, four screeches of engines, the pale lines of a blue box. Of everything she had seen, heard, felt, in the whole wide universe, nothing stopped her heart quite so quickly.

A thin man appeared in the distance. He ran forward, spun around, didn't see her. Turned again, frazzled, distracted. So very like him.

_I'm here,_ she called inside her head. _I'm here, Doctor._

And then he turned round once more. He was far away, but she saw him change, his tense shoulders falling, his face breaking into an incandescent smile. They were running as one, and she felt the tears leak from her eyes but she didn't care, because he was there, gazing at her, running to her. Her whole body came alive, her heart pounding, her skin on fire.

She had seen the corners of countless universes. She had seen the beginning and end of time, and she had breathed in stardust and carried every atom of existence heavy on her shoulders. But just now, existence disappeared around her. Every universe meant nothing. All that mattered was the Doctor's face, his shining eyes, his broad smile. It was all she knew; her legs moved as if they belonged to a different body, because her heart and soul were already in his precious hands.

Out of nowhere, a Dalek appeared; the Doctor glowed, and he fell. Rose staggered to her knees beside him, touching his face, calling his name.

And even on the ground, he smiled at her. His eyes sparkled brighter than the fabric of the universe itself; she knew, she'd seen it. Her arms shook as she lifted his head from the ground and into her lap. A whisper, a voice she had nearly forgotten, cut through the night.

_Rose._

Holding him in her arms was both exhilarating and terrifying, more than anything she had ever done, ever dreamed. Because suddenly he was real again, and suddenly he was dying.

_I found you._


End file.
